Tablet computing devices, sometimes referred to as tablets, or as tablet computers, are generally planar, lightweight devices that include a touch-screen display. Examples include the Apple iPad, Kindle Fire, Motorola Xoom, Samsung Galaxy, Blackberry Playbook, LG Optimus Pad, Dell Streak, HP TouchPad, HTC Flyer, and Viewsonic ViewPad. Generally, tablets have a rectangular form factor that may be considered smaller than a traditional laptop or desktop computer monitor but larger than a smaller electronic device such as a smartphone. For example, in some cases tablets may be about 20 CM to about 30 CM in length, about 10 CM to about 20 CM in height, and about 1 CM in thickness or less, with a weight of between about 400 grams and about 1 KG. Tablets also generally have a display panel (e.g. LCD or TFT) with a screen size of between about 15 CM and about 25 CM, and may include a variety of other features such as front and/or rear camera(s), wire or cable connector(s) (e.g., proprietary, HDMI, USB, audio, charging/power, etc.), and wireless network connections (e.g., 3G/4G, Wi-Fi). Tablets may also currently have between about 500 MB and about 1 GB of RAM and between about 16 GB and about 64 GB of storage memory.
A typical tablet 108 is depicted in FIGS. 1-2 with an optional fold-over cover 170. As shown, tablet 108 can have any number of tablet ports 164, which can include a power port 168, a USB port 172, a network port 176, in and out audio ports 180, a video port 184 and a proprietary port 188. Of course, not every tablet will have all the tablet ports 164 listed; a tablet may have additional ports, more than one of the same port, or a tablet may have a proprietary port 188 that provides combined connective functionality which may be equivalent to one or more of the listed ports. Likewise, tablets may not have all the tablet ports 164 located on a single edge of the tablet.
Given that tablets are generally rectangularly shaped, tablets are thus typically symmetrical when viewed front-on, as shown in FIG. 1. When viewed end on, as shown in FIG. 2, some tablets are not symmetrically shaped about a center line 156. In the example shown, the front face 128 is slightly wider than the back plate 152, which results in the asymmetrical feature 192. Tablets can also have many other asymmetrical features, which may also distinguish the front face 128 from the back plate 152 of a tablet when viewed end on, as shown in FIG. 2. Such asymmetrical features can be in the form of one or more edges that are beveled, one or more edges that have a larger radius than other edges, or any other asymmetrical feature to distinguish the front from the back when the tablet is viewed end on.
Tablet users often choose to cover their tablets with a tablet cover 170, as depicted in FIG. 1. As can be appreciated, tablet covers can protect tablets from dust, abrasions, scratches and the like, however, tablet covers also can change the overall outside linear dimensions of a tablet. In addition, as tablets can have asymmetrical features, the addition of a cover can render such an asymmetrical feature unsuitable or unusable for distinguishing the front face from the back plate of a tablet.